The first instance judgment of the infringement case of "Steel Flying Dragon: Goodbye Ultraman" was in favor of Tsuburaya Company

Today (July 8), Xin Chuanghua, the general agent of Tsuburaya's "Ultraman" series in China, issued a first-instance victory announcement for "Steel Flying Dragon: Goodbye Ultraman".

Original text of the first instance judgment announcement:

Recently, the People's Court of Yongdong New District, Shanghai, China, made a judgment on the case in which our company sued Guangzhou BlueArc Animation Media Co., Ltd., LeTV Pictures (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Guangzhou BlueArc Culture Communication Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Lanqi Culture Communication Co., Ltd. and other five defendants for infringing our company's copyright in "Steel Flying Dragon: Goodbye Ultraman".

The judgment determined that using an Ultraman image that is substantially similar to the "First Ultraman" character image that the company holds the copyright to for filming a movie, arranging personnel to wear jumpsuits and helmets with the accused Ultraman image at the movie press conference, and disseminating feature films, trailers, and other dissemination materials containing the infringing Ultraman image constituted infringement. At the same time, the judgment clarified the civil liabilities, including immediately stopping the infringing behavior, making a public statement to eliminate the impact, and compensating for related economic losses.

Tsuburaya Manufacturing Co., Ltd. July 8, 2020

"Steel Flying Dragon: Goodbye Ultraman" is a 2D/3D animated film jointly produced by BlueArc Animation and LeTV Pictures, directed by Wang Wei, with the theme song "I Saw You in the Poem" sung by Da Zhangwei. The film will be released nationwide on October 1, 2017.

On October 24, 2017, Tsuburaya Japan and Shanghai Century Huachuang, the agent of Ultraman in China, sued the producer. On February 5, 2018, Tsuburaya Japan and Shanghai Century Huachuang withdrew the lawsuit to the Shanghai Huangpu New District People's Court. However, Tsuburaya Japan and Shanghai Century Huachuang sued the producer again for the promotional video and movie, and now the lawsuit has been settled.